Don't Want to Leave You
by Hammerin
Summary: A drabble about Sam's last day at McKinley before moving to Kentucky. Set during the end of season two. Previously posted on Tumblr, a quick burst of Samcedes angst and drama.


"No tears, okay?"

Mercedes nodded, no tears. It came to her as a surprise that Sam opened up about his impending departure to their entire class before coming to her, but she recalled the difficulty the couple had in meeting for the past week, and pushed aside the thought. It didn't make it any better that it was the last day of school, and both were unsure how they would be able to meet up during summer.

"Here: I'll walk you home," Sam told her after the bell rang, the last bell of the year for all the students. It was a bittersweet moment, especially for the two.

"You don't have to." Mercedes replied, quietly. She was unsure of what to say to the boy, her boyfriend. Soon he'd be gone, and all the promises he'd made to her that this time it'd be different seemed to fade away. It wasn't his fault he was moving, she knew that, in fact the entire school knew Sam was poor. It just felt different to her, why make a promise that he wasn't sure he could keep? On top of that, they were still keeping their relationship a secret, and Sam lived far away. Excuses continued to multiply in Mercedes's head, all in an effort to keep from actually having to say goodbye.

Sam shrugged, and pulled his backpack up on him, "No, I want to."

The two walked for a distance without saying a word to each other, though both were greeted by mutual friends on the way out of school. People Mercedes never knew Sam had even interacted with ran up to the boy and paid him well wishes, completely ignoring her there. Sam in no way tried to detach himself from the girl, as he wasn't the one who didn't want people to know about the relationship, that was Mercedes.

 _"People are going to think you're only with me out of pity, just like the prom thing. Did you hear what people said about that?"_

 _"Who cares what people say? I'm poor, no one has said anything to my face about it; they wont treat us any differently."_

Being poor was a precedent for everyone in Sam's case, if he could lose everything he had, nearly end up homeless, and support his entire family, then no one else had the right to complain. 'Being poor was nowhere near like being ostracized', Mercedes thought. Sam was popular and handsome, people could look past his home life. As for Mercedes, nobody would take in consideration that Sam really liked her, in their minds she had just gotten super lucky, and Sam was just being nice. Whose to say he wasn't?

The only time Mercedes had ever struggled with insecurities was when it came to boys. Suddenly she wasn't good enough, and suddenly she was no longer competing over who had the best voice in Glee club; it was who had the nicest laugh, and who could please their man better. It was like she was in a competition with every other person at McKinley to keep Sam under her weight.

She pushed herself past Sam's friends, some she had known twice the amount of time they'd known him, but she knew they probably didn't even remember her name. High school.

It wasn't until she was out of the building that Sam caught up with her, but by that time Mercedes's annoyance had submerged into sadness, the reality that soon he'd be gone.

"So, when are you leaving?"

Sam shrugged, "Dunno, my dad has to start work by July, so we have a month."

"Are you excited? Are you nervous?"

Sam raised his eyebrows, and cocked his mouth open. The two ended up on the sidewalk quickly, followed by a precession of school buses. "Uh– I'm nervous, yeah. I don't want to leave, but family comes first. A couple people have told me I could stay with them, but I can't leave my parents, y'know?"

Mercedes nodded, "I know what you mean."

Sam smiled to lighten the situation, "What about you?' He said, moving his head in coordination with his words. "Are you excited? Are you nervous?"

"Am I excited?" She retorted.

"Yeah.."

"I'm happy for you, starting over is good. I'm glad you'll be in a better situation."

Sam nodded, crossing his arms. It wasn't the answer he was hoping for, but he wouldn't prod anything out of her that wasn't the truth.

"I will miss you, though..' She continued.

Giving Mercedes a giant smile, he pulled her in for a one-armed hug. "I'm gonna miss you too, Mercedes."

Smiling into Sam's chest, she replied, "You better or else."

"Or else what?"

"Or else I'm just gonna have to come to Kentucky with your skinny behind so you never get the chance to miss me."

"You totally should, actually." Sam said, his eyes widening.

"Sam, I'm not coming to Kentucky with you."

"Didn't think so."

Mercedes looked over to Sam, and rose her eyebrows, "But if I were to…'

He finished quickly, "If you were to come to Kentucky, we'd have a blast. I could take you horseback riding, and show you what a true country boy looks like."

Mercedes burst into laughter, "A true country boy? Oh, Lord."

"'Oh, Lord' is right, because that's all you'll be saying after-'

Mercedes hit him on the shoulder before he could finish, "You are impossible, my goodness."

"Well, you love it."

"That I do,' she admitted.

The two finished the walk to Mercedes's home in silence, walking with shoulders touching the whole way. Sam longed to grab for Mercedes's hand, but he couldn't deal with her ripping away like the last time he'd tried the move, so he took the simple closeness as a treasure. He couldn't understand the reason why Mercedes was so prone on keeping them a secret, and now that he was moving she could always say that it never even happened. The reasons she gave him felt superficial, and the ideas that plagued him on why did as well, but his imagination ran from him constantly when it came to Mercedes. She was vocal, and always said what she was thinking, but she guarded her heart. Sam had done everything in his will for the past two months to prove to Mercedes that he was serious about, that he knew he rushed into things with Quinn and Santana, that he knew he was younger than her, that he knew he had a lot on his case, but he also knew that he felt something different for her.

Along with the insecurities and made-up scenarios that bothered Sam, the fact that he might never be back in Lima again began to haunt him, so he did his best to try to make the last few weeks worth it. He had a little money left over from his pizza delivery job, and he'd asked his dad if it was okay for him to use the money for a date, rather than towards the new house payment. Dwight Evans told the boy that Sam never had to give money to the family if he had priorities sat before them, a line that had almost opted the boy to revoke the question immediately, and put the money towards the payment.

 _"Sam, what I mean is that if this girl means anything to you, you take her on a date and let her know. I don't know if we'll ever be back in Lima again, so make it worth your time."_

His father's line had been enough to prompt him to spend a week thinking of the perfect date for Mercedes; after her admission that she had never been to a theme park, he had the perfect idea, but he'd surprise her with that later.

"Do you want to come in?" Mercedes asked when the couple finally arrived at her house.

Sam shook his head, "Can we just sit out here for a minute?"

"Yeah, sure." Mercedes answered, the two taking their backpacks off, and sitting on the raised portion of her driveway.

"We are going to hang out before I leave." Sam warned Mercedes.

"Okay." She replied, not sure if his words were true. Neither of them could be sure of what would happen between then and July, so she did her best to make the most of their time together now.

"I'd say call and text me, but I don't have phone…'

"I know-,' Mercedes intervened.

"Being poor and all." Sam cut her off quickly, so that she'd know the reason for his excuse.

"I get it, Sam."

"Okay, I just had to make sure that you knew."

"I- I know, Sam. You never miss an opportunity to mention it."

"Well, I hate to portray someone I'm not. Unless I'm giving impressions, then it's acceptable. Any other time, I'm only Sam Evans, one hundred percent." He said, shrugging his shoulders in submission.

"Being poor isn't, like, a character trait."

"It's not?" He asked.

"No." Mercedes replied, dryly.

Sam sucked his teeth, "That was all I had going for me."

Mercedes burst into laughter, Sam smiling at her out the corner of his eye.

After Mercedes's laughter died out, Sam sat still letting the wind blow on them. Mercedes's driveway was perfectly positioned under a large tree; the two were able to avoid the sun and take advantage of the wind perfectly. "I know you hate when I talk about them, but I could never laugh like this with Quinn and Santana, they just.. I don't know, like, I don't have bad things to say about them. They were just different."

"Yeah,' Mercedes replied, she knew Quinn and Santana's personalities.

"I'm going to miss you most of all." He confessed, turning to face Mercedes.

"That's nice, Sam, but you have other-",

"No. I know what I'm saying Mercedes, you are the only motivation I have to still keep a smile on my face, and to still go to school, and act like everything is okay. Everything is not okay." He said, his voice deepening.

Mercedes leaned over, and began to rub his arm. "It's going to get better, Sam."

The boy dropped his head into his lap, when he spoke Mercedes could tell he was crying. "I don't want to leave, Mercedes. I don't want to leave you."

Though in her mind Sam was taking it all a bit too seriously, she knew she wasn't in his shoes, and she couldn't know what he was feeling. Rubbing his back, she whispered, "I don't you to leave me either."


End file.
